Manoj Kumar, 40, and his wife Raj Kaur earned just Rs 250 each every day, working as daily-wagers at a local brick kiln in Punjab’s Sangrur district.

MANDVI VILLAGE (SANGRUR, PUNJAB): Until a few days back, Manoj Kumar, 40, and his wife Raj Kaur earned just Rs 250 each every day, working as daily-wagers at a local brick kiln near their village in Punjab’s Sangrur district. Life was limited to planning for the next 24 hours for the couple and their four children.

Since August 30, however, their life has changed 360 degrees. Property agents and bankers are knocking on the door of their ramshackle home with lucrative investment offers worth several lakhs, thanks to the Rs 1.5 crore Rakhi Bumper lottery of the state government that Manoj won.

Interestingly, he had bought the ticket after borrowing Rs 200 from a neighbour. Also, this was the first time he had bought a ticket.

Now that he is a ‘crorepati’, he finds himself in the unusual position of making plans for the future, especially for his children. Before he won the lottery, the eldest of his three daughters, who cleared her Class XII exam this year, had started looking for a job in Sangrur. He has told her to end the job hunt and start studying again so that she becomes eligible to join the police force as she had once planned.

Manoj’s father Hawa Singh died recently after developing asthmatic problems. “Whatever little savings I had, I spent on his treatment, but I could not save him,” says Manoj, who regrets he didn’t win the lottery earlier as the money would have saved his father.

‘I’m being approached by bankers’Manoj said, “After my father died, I went back to the brick kiln. Even after putting in extra hours, I could never earn more than Rs 250 a day as I was paid 50 paise per brick.” However, on August 30, an employee of the local post office turned up at his house in the morning and informed him that he had won the state government’s Rakhi Bumper lottery.

“I overheard the conversation my husband was having with the man from the post office. I thought they were just having a chat. But then the man came back with the newspaper and when Manoj matched the ticket number that he pulled out from his soiled trousers pocket, we were completely stunned,” says Raj Kaur.

Manoj, who has already handed over the required documents to the state directorate for lotteries to claim his reward, says he will get the money in the next couple of months. “As word has spread, I am already being approached by property agents who are promising to help me buy the most fertile agricultural land around the village. Some bankers too have called me up to brief me about good investment schemes,” he says.

Though buying agricultural land is on his list, Manoj first wants to build a new house for his family so that he can get them out of the crumbling half-brick-half-mud structure they call home. He is also planning to start a small business and is discussing ideas with close friends and relatives.

Manoj, who belonged to the Balmiki Dalit community and embraced Christianity about 10 years ago with the rest of the family, wants to secure the future of his four children. “My second daughter wanted to become a nurse. Now, I want her to become a doctor. My third daughter is still in Class VI. My son, who is in Class X at the village school, wants to become a priest in the church and I will support him,” he adds.

His mother Krishni Devi, says they had moved to Mandvi in 1984. “We had relatives here. In our village in Narwana district of Haryana, floods destroyed crops every year,” she says. “Here, the village panchayat gave us 200 square yards on the outskirts of the village. Those were good days and people were not as money-minded as they are today.”

Manoj's father spent his life mending punctured cycles tyres and Manoj started working as a daily-wager at

15. “I wish my father was alive to see the good life I am about to create with the lottery money,” he says.

The family would also be offering financial help to Manoj’s elder brother, who lives next door and works a dailywager. “We feel that it is our responsibility to help other members in our family to make their lives better,” says Raj Kaur.